Fallen Roses
by Nightingale Moon
Summary: Four girls' lives are drastically altered when Beauxbatons is destroyed and they have to go to Hogwarts. Will their friendship survive some of life's toughest tests, like growing up and falling in love? Read on to find out...
1. Chapter One

**_Fallen Roses_**

**Disclaimer: **Characters, settings, and situations that you recognize from _Harry Potter _are owned by JK Rowling. Everything that you do _not _recognize from any book, movie, cartoon, anime, or TV series is a product of my rather warped imagination and therefore belongs to me. And, as much as I would like to, I am not making any money off this.

**Author's Note: **First, let me just say that the original characters found in this story are _not _Mary Sues. How can that be, you ask? Well, basically, a Mary Sue is an author's alter-ego, often carrying the name of the author herself, who is so beautiful, so charming, so talented, so _absolutely perfect, _who either a) becomes the author's favorite character's love interest, or b) saves the world using talents the rest of us can only dream of, or c) dies a heroic death and is mourned by everyone, or d) all of the above. The way I understand it, you can still have original characters, even blatant self-insertions, without them being Mary Sues.

I have gone through great pains to prevent the four girls featured in this story from falling into the pits of Mary Sue-ism. Granted, their given names are French-ified versions of my and my friends' names, and I based their characters on my and my friends' personalities, and, yes, they _will _have some sort of romance with some of the Harry Potter characters. But, and I strongly emphasize the word _but, _they are _not_ perfect, they will _not_ be adored, worshipped, and lavished with praise by virtually the entire cast, nor will they die tragic deaths after they have saved the day--- I'm not even sure if they _will _save the day. Reader, I have long hated Mary Sues, and I wrote this story to see if I could create fairly decent original characters that wouldn't make people want to bash their heads against a brick wall from sheer annoyance. If you detect any hint of Mary Sue-ism, please, _please _let me know, and I will do my best to correct it.

*glances at above paragraphs, and eyes widen just a teensy bit with surprise* This is inarguably one of the longest author's notes I have ever seen or written. Before I sign off, I recommend visiting http://ficbitches.pitas.com. It is a fanfic review site, the best I have visited so far. These people are hilarious and completely merciless, and, better yet, they share my loathing for Mary Sues--- come to think of it, who doesn't?

Enjoy my twisted tale, reader, and don't forget to review. Even if it's just to shred my original characters to pieces. ^_^

**_Chapter One_**

Michelle Aveyron leaned against the cold window, staring at the castle through the blur of raindrops that trickled across the glass. It was a magnificent building, perched atop a mountain, with many turrets and towers, and cheery light glowing from its countless windows. "Oh, _mon dieu, _it is even bigger zan Beauxbatons," breathed the sixteen-year-old French girl, her eyes alight with childish wonder.

The three other people in the horseless carriage flinched at the sound of the name, a name they had once honored and cherished, and dreamed of bringing glory to. A name that was now nothing more than a bittersweet memory.

"Beauxbatons will always be grander zan zis," said Kaylee Chantal, waving a slender white hand dismissively. "Ze palace was made of marble and gold and precious stone, and at night, even when it rained, it would shine like silver moonbeams"

"We all know what it was made of and what it shone like at night, Kaylee," Therese Riviere snapped, fed up with the other girl's constant complaining. "You do not ave to remind us!"

Kaylee opened her mouth to let loose with a scathing retort, but Janae Du Bois cut her off. "Maman told me zey ad to travel across ze lake in zeir first year at Ogwarts," said Janae, quickly changing the subject to avoid a fight. "A boy fell into ze water, but sumzing tossed im back onto ze boat. Zey say zere is a giant squid in zere."

"Truly?" Michelle exclaimed. "I ave never seen a giant squid before!"

"And you should not be in a particular rush to see one," Kaylee admonished. "What could zey ave been zinking, allowing a creature like zat inside ze school? Madame Maxime would have never let zat happen in Beauxbatons!"

"Zis is _not _Beauxbatons, and Albus Dumbledore is _not _Madame Maxime!" Therese burst out, her temper reaching its boiling point. "'Onestly, Kaylee, you ave been doing nuzzing but grouch ever since we got on Platform Nine and Zree Quarters! You are urting my ears!"

"Ah, but ow can I not grouch?" Kaylee shot back. "It is not everyday your school is destroyed and you are sent off to some foreign school you know absolutely nuzzing about! I did not wish to go to Ogwarts!"

"Would you razzer ave preferred Durmstrang? Now zat I zink about it, Durmstrang would ave suited you perfectly. It's evil and as a nasty reputation."

Kaylee's dark violet eyes blazed, the only indication in her cool, composed face that she was angry, and soon she and Therese were embroiled in a shouting match in French.

Therese raged about how arrogant and stuck-up Kaylee was. Kaylee pointed out that Therese was an insensitive, hot-tempered brat who had never cared about their old school, or how traumatic it had been to leave it all behind in a pile of ashes.

They had resorted to calling each other the worst names they could think of, when Janae finally yelled, "ENOUGH! Stop it, ze two of you!"

Michelle, Therese, and Kaylee turned to stare with astonishment at the quiet, curly-haired girl, who had seldom, if ever, raised her voice.

Reaching up with a noticeably shaky hand to adjust her glasses on the bridge of her nose, Janae said, "Zis as been a terrible ordeal for all of us, but zere is no reason to act like zis! Ze two of you, Kaylee and Zerese, ave been at each uzzer's zroat ever since Beauxbatons---" she paused, and then continued in a much softer voice, "was destroyed."

A thick silence enveloped the carriage as each girl lost herself in her own memory of that fateful night. Waking up in the middle of the night, surrounded by bright red-orange flames running out of their dormitories, panicking, screaming along with everyone else Huddling together in the rose garden, watching with breaking hearts as the fire consumed the palace they had loved so much Being sent home, silent and subdued, coolly told by a visibly shocked Madame Maxime that they would continue their magical education in either of the two remaining wizarding schools in Europe

"Janae is right," said Michelle at last, breaking the silence. "Zis is bound to be a difficult year for us, what wiz all ze adjusting we ave to do, why make it more difficult by fighting? All we ave left to hold on to is each uzzer"

Such wisdom was unexpected from Michelle Aveyron, the baby of the group. Her plaintive words tugged at their hearts.

"I did not mean all zose zings I said, Kaylee," Therese admitted slowly after several minutes had passed.

"Neizer did I, Zerese," was the somewhat ashamed reply. "And I am sorry if I ave been such a drag, I could not elp it"

"It's all right," Therese assured her.

Janae beamed at her friends, glad they had come to their senses. "It is now time to renew our pact," she announced suddenly, struck by inspiration. "Ze pact we made in our first year."

"I remember zat one," said Michelle. They all pulled out their wands, then held the tips together, forming a tight circle.

_"To always be zere for each uzzer" _Therese began.

_"To be more zan friends, to be sisters" _Kaylee chanted.

_"To forever love, hope, and trust" _said Janae.

_"To never let anyzing come between us" _Michelle finished.

Each girl's wand glowed with a soft golden light, which slowly melded into a symphony of pink and sky blue, and then a thin stream of smoke emerged from the center of the circle. They watched with wide eyes as the stream of smoke broke apart, then came together again to form a silvery rosebud, sparkling like sunlit dewdrops.

"I do not zink we will have such a difficult time adjusting," Therese said cheerfully, with a wink, as the rosebud faded and the light died out, and the carriage rolled to a stop. "We are ze Roses, after all."


	2. Chapter Two

**_Fallen Roses_**

**Disclaimer: **Characters, settings, and situations that you recognize from _Harry Potter _are owned by JK Rowling. Everything that you do _not _recognize from any book, movie, cartoon, anime, or TV series is a product of my rather warped imagination and therefore belongs to me. And, as much as I would like to, I am not making any money off this.

**Author's Note: **Thank you, **Elektra** (http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=194757), for the praise and the honest criticism, as well as for helping me out with my French. Actually, you're right, it hadn't even occurred to me that the girls should be speaking French when they are alone, but let's pretend they're trying to learn English, okay? Besides, I just love writing French accents :-)

For all my fellow Mary Sue haters, there is a site that, in the words of the esteemed Ficbitches, finds and dismantles Mary Sues for your enjoyment--- http://www.livejournal.com/users/marysues. Don't miss out on this one. Trust me.

And now, on with the story! ^_^

**_Chapter Two_**

The transferees from Beauxbatons stood in the Great Hall, most of them shifting awkwardly under hundreds of curious, questioning gazes, their ears ringing with the whispers and murmurs spreading through the crowd like wildfire.

_"Merde!" _Janae exclaimed, taking a step back to hide behind Therese. "But I am not used to zis sort of attention."

"Zey are not looking at you," Therese told her laughingly, "but at Kaylee!"

"Zat is not true," said Kaylee, but it was. The willowy girl with long white gold hair and dark amethyst eyes was attracting more than her fair share of open-mouthed stares and admiring glances, as well as jealous scowls.

"It is difficult to ave a Veela for a grandmuzzer, is it not?" Michelle observed, grinning. Kaylee had never gotten used to being the center of attention, even though she had grown up with males fawning over her. She knew she was beautiful in an almost unearthly way--- she just didn't like it.

Therese looked up at the velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. It looked just like the night sky or maybe it was? Maybe there was no roof, but that was silly, who'd ever heard of a hall without roofs?

_Then again, the British are peculiar folk, _she thought to herself, looking down again. This belief was reinforced when Professor McGonagall, a staid woman whose mouth was set in a grim line, placed a four-legged stool in front of everyone. On top was a patched and frayed, and extremely dirty, pointed wizard's hat.

"What," said the brown-haired boy behind them, "is _zat, _exactly?"

"Ze Sorting At," Janae informed him in a hushed whisper, because a silence had fallen over the hall. "Maman told me about it. It will decide which ouse we belong to."

The boy was incredulous. "It can do zat? But how?"

"Wait and see"

All eyes turned to the hat, except for most of the boys, whose gazes remained riveted on Kaylee. She gallantly pretended not to notice.

Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide, like a mouth, and in a matter of seconds, it burst into song.

_"Mon Dieu," _whispered Michelle. "A singing "

"God ave mercy on us all," Therese added, although she was obviously amused, and clapped along with everyone else when the hat finished its song, bowed to the four long tables where the rest of the students were sitting, then became quite still again.

"So we ave to try on ze hat?" the brown-haired boy asked, shaking his head. "Crazy Eenglish wizards."

"Let's see" said Kaylee thoughtfully, putting one hand on her hip. "Slyzerin is for zose oo ave cunning and ambition Gryffindors are brave Ze patient and ardworking belong in and Ravenclaw is for ze smart ones. Ave I got zat right?"

Janae nodded.

Michelle looked troubled. "Zey are sorting on personalities, not deeds. What if---" She paused, hardly daring to voice the fear out loud--- "we are not in ze same ouse?"

It was a possibility they had not considered, and now it made chills run down their spines. Their friendship had been formed because they had shared the same dormitory for almost six years--- they were the girls of Maison des Roses. How would they survive without each other?

McGonagall unrolled a long scroll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Aveyron, Michelle!"

Michelle stepped forward, feeling as if everyone in the room was staring at her. Which they probably were. She put on the hat, squeezed her eyes shut, thinking how she would very much like to strangle someone if she was placed in a house she didn't like.

"Ooh, a feisty one, eh?" said a startling small voice in her ear, making her jump. "A craving for adventure Lots of spunk and, dear me, a mischievous streak Willing to try anything, are you? Ah, well, bravery and daring are fine virtues, and because of that, you belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted the last word to the whole hall. A tremendous burst of applause followed, and Michelle took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table.

A girl with bushy brown hair smiled at her. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. Have a seat."

_"Merci," _said Michelle, sitting down. She looked at her three best friends, who grinned and waved at her, albeit apprehensively. She managed a small smile for them.

Emilie Bayonne, a stout, pimply girl who had amazed everyone in Beauxbatons with her loyalty to her friends and her diligence, was decreed a Hufflepuff. Yves Calais was made a Gryffindor, which was hardly shocking since he was the boy who had tried to singlehandedly take on a manticore that had forced its way into the palace back in third year.

He strolled over to the Gryffindor table, grinning, and sat next to Michelle. "I could not ave asked for a better ouse," he declared sincerely. The other Gryffindors beamed at him.

What surprised Michelle and--- she suspected--- the rest of the transferees was when the Sorting Hat placed Rohan Casteljaloux in Ravenclaw. Rohan had been the most popular guy in Beauxbatons, he was Quidditch captain and a total heartthrob, but he had not shown any sign of exceptional intelligence whatsoever.

And then it was Kaylee's turn.

Heads turned as Kaylee made her way to the front of the room, chin held high. A redheaded boy sitting near Michelle groaned out loud. "Oh, no, not another bloody Veela!"

_Now what's that supposed to mean? _wondered Michelle, but then her friend gracefully sat on the stool, and she stopped wondering and started praying. Kaylee managed to look dignified as always, even with a tattered old hat falling right down over her eyes. However, the way she clenched her fists tightly together showed how tense she truly was.

_Please, put her in Gryffindor Gryffindor Gryffindor _Michelle fervently chanted over and over again, in her mind. _Gryffindor Gryffindor_

"SLYTHERIN!" screamed the hat.

_"WHAT?!!!" _Michelle was tempted to scream out loud, but fortunately stopped herself just in time. Kaylee took off the hat and went to the Slytherin table. Most of the boys there cheered loudly, almost all of them standing up to shake her hand or offering her a seat, but she ignored them and looked at Michelle instead, deathly pale.

After several more names were called, it was Janae's turn. The hat declared her a Ravenclaw. She looked nauseated, even more so when Rohan smirked at her. They had always disliked each other, and now they were going to be in the same house!

Michelle had all but given up believing in the power of prayer when Therese's turn came. She crossed her fingers and decided to give faith one more chance.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

_No, it can't be, _Michelle thought numbly as the tall girl with wavy brown hair sat down at the Hufflepuff table, so far away from Michelle. _This can't be happening. Not to us_

But it had. Michelle Aveyron, Kaylee Chantal, Janae Du Bois, and Therese Riviere, the four Roses of Beauxbatons, were in different houses. For the first time in almost six years, they would be sleeping in the same building, but in different dormitories. They would be sharing the same classes, but not doing their homework together in front of the common room fire. Their houses would compete against each other in Quidditch and for the House cup. They would be almost like rivals.

It was unthinkable. Unbearable.

"Michelle," said Yves softly, knowing how close the four girls had been to one another, "I am very sorry."

The rest of the evening was a blur. Albus Dumbledore welcomed the transferees to Hogwarts, then food magically appeared on previously empty dinner plates. Michelle, Kaylee, Therese, and Janae ate listlessly, barely even tasting the delicious cuisine prepared by the house elves. They made no attempt to join in merry conversation and glanced bleakly at each other once in a while. Not even the arrival of the ghosts brought them out of their trance-like state.

It was already starting out to be a horrible school year.


End file.
